Nine soldiers killed in central Mali attack

Nine Malian soldiers were killed and five wounded in an area regularly targeted by Jihadist groups, as the commander of France’s counter-terrorism force for the region said an operation on the Burkina Faso border was ongoing.

“A supply mission for the national armed forces fell into an ambush between Dogofri and Nampala. The initial toll is nine dead and five wounded,” Commerce Minister and government spokesman Abdel Karim Konate said in a statement. He condemned the “cowardly and barbaric act” and said, “our commitment, as well as that of our partners, is to relentlessly pursue the fight against terrorism and drug-trafficking” in Mali.

A Malian military source earlier said eight soldiers were killed and four wounded in the attack in the central region of Segou.

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Joel Cholo Brooks is a Liberian journalist who previously worked for several international news outlets including the BBC African Service. He is the CEO of the Global News Network which publishes two local weeklies, The Star and The GNN-Liberia Newspapers. He is a member of the Press Union Of Liberia (PUL) since 1986, and several other international organizations of journalists.